Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Sixteen year old Kevin Covais of Levitown is a contestant on the FOX show American Idol. It's nice to see a Nassau County teen doing well and getting the attention for his talent he deserves.Getting into the spirit to support Kevin in his quest to be the the next winner of American Idol, County Executive Tom Suozzi sent an e-mail to county employees to ask them to call the show and vote for Kevin. According to Newsday, Suozzi wrote "Kevin's father is a retired captain from the Sheriff's Department and his uncle is currently a police officer in the Third Precinct. Your support for Kevin would be greatly appreciated. Let's show the world that Nassau County residents are the best. Go Kevin!"Great idea right? Rally the county employees to help Kevin win.Enter republican legislative spokesman Ed "89,000/year part-time" Ward.Ward pipes up and says "Is this a legitimate use of taxpayers' money when he's e-mailing all county employees to rig a national election on a television show? Has he nothing better to do?"

Did everyone else just get a headache??What exactly is the surcharge per e-mail Suozzi sent? Why there isn't one of course. The e-mail which probably took a minute or two to type and send to "ALL" really didn't cost the county a dime... or even a penny.And "rigging a national election?????"What exactly is wrong with Ward?How is rallying county employees to support Kevin Covais rigging anything???Suozzi Spokesman Ian Siegel says to Ward "Lighten up. This isn't Watergate. It's just 'American Idol."Kevin Covais is making us proud and getting him more support is something "better to do."

Friends and family are rallying support for him and according to Newsday, "Pat Gentile, a construction worker and fan who lives down the street, fired up his blue truck and spent hours Saturday putting up posters throughout Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens, urging people to vote for Covais. Gentile and his wife, Patty, also had a party Sunday for about 60 Covais supporters and friends, and on Monday he was back in his truck putting up more posters."Kevin is a decent kid in school," said Gentile. "Kevin does not need 'American Idol' as much as our country needs Kevin as an American idol. He is everything decent and fair." Tune in to FOX Ch. 5 Wednesday at 9pm and help Kevin by voting for him.And if you feel like it, call Ed Ward at (516) 571-6212 and ask him why he wants to politicize American Idol.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

With the Presiding Officer imbroglio only over a few weeks, republicans are now trying to "shame" Democrats into voting for what they want. In a Public Works Commitee fracas reported by Newsday on Feb 28th, Leg. Edward Mangano (R-Bethpage) said "It's not that you're going against the administration, it's that you're doing your job."So in order for Democrats to "do their job", they HAVE to vote against proposals by CE Suozzi. This is the only way to "prove" they are independent.It's not enough that the Democrats agree with a proposal, it's what republicans want what they can't have; ways to defeat plans they don't likeHow absurd.Just because the Democrats agree with the party leader, doesn't mean they aren't doing thier jobsMaybe Mangano or one of the other brave, independent, reform-minded republicans can just once vote outside of their caucus. It seems Ed and his buddies just vote what ever way Peter Schmitt wants them too. According to Manganos logic, he and his gang aren't "doing thier jobs."We saw that during the Presiding Officer fiasco where republicans would be told how to vote to get more power even if it meant voting for Democrat Roger Corbin. Republicans do as they are told. No breaking ranks to "do thier job."

Republican spokesman Ed "$89,000 a year part-time" Ward told Newsday "There's no changes. This is what happened before."

What, that Democrats vote they want to and they want to vote for Suozzi's proposals?What a wacky notion.